Curriculum-based Assessment Written Expression

Purposes of Assessment Convention mastery Expressive mastery Functional mastery

Conventional Mastery Knowledge and application –Types –Writing conventions –Grammar –Spelling Function of Accuracy

Expressive Mastery Conveying ideas –Some to many Conveying complete ideas –Cohesion and organization Flexibility of conveyance –Multiple ways to say the same thing –Extended vocabulary –Use of specific genres Function of fluency

Functional Mastery Writing for specifically useful purposes –E.G., Letters of application Descriptive sequence –Steps to instruction –Recipes Technology skill –Word processing –Spell/grammar checking –Formatting/use of templates

Scope and Sequence Different sequences convey different perspectives ExpressiveConventionalFunctional ConventionalExpressiveConventional Functional Expressive

Curriculum-based Measures of Written Expression (Shinn, 1989) Story starters –Read one-sentence story starter –Student thinks about what to write for one minute –Student continuously writes a story for three minutes Scoring options –Total words written (correct or incorrect spelling, no numbers not spelled, title, names) –Words spelled correctly –Total letters written (spelled correct or incorrect) –Correct word sequences (information units): connected words = one sequence, numbers next to words are not

CBM for Spelling (Shinn, 1989) 2 – minute spelling probes of curriculum-based words at 10-second (grade 1-3) or 7-second intervals (grade 4-8) –12-13 words for 10-second probes –17-18 words for 7-second probes –No new words in last 3 seconds, allow student to finish the last word Scoring –Words spelled correctly as a probe percentage

CBA for Written Expression Writing samples on curriculum taught –Identify type and level of mastery –Scoring As in CBM Administer to all students in class Compare target student to students in class Note taking samples –Identify learning task (e.G., Lecture, group work) –Compare to other students in class

Scoring of Note Taking Samples Identify notes organization –Outline, free write, other structure (matrix) Legibility –Number of recognizable words –Teacher ranking (e.G., Which would you give to another student for study?) Information units –Complete thought = one information unit T- unit –Subject verb combinations